What Do I Think Of Him?
by RealMe07
Summary: Jo has just arrived in New York. What does she think of her new neighbor? Is it just friendship or more?


She didn't know what she thought of him.

Jo was unpacking in her small room in New York where she was to be a governess. Mrs. Kirk had introduced her to the two little girls she would care to, the cooks and maids, and everyone and everything else in the house, and then she came to the end of the hallway of level three.

To the right she showed Jo her room. To the left, she laughed and said, "And this will be your neighbor. He might seem crazy from this angle, but he is a wonderful man, dear, I assure you. One of Margaret's daughters only deserves the best!"

She gestured towards a man (in his late thirties perhaps) with curly brown hair (that reminded her of Laurie's), dark brown eyes (which she loved the best), and a beard. He was wearing brown trousers and a white dress shirt and brown loafers for his feet. He had a bear rug on his back and was on all fours crawling around on the floor. The door to his room was open and he was playing with two small children who looked quite a bit like him. One looked about seven, the other five. One had brown hair and the other blonde. They were laughing and screaming of happiness.

"AHHH! The bear-man is gunna gets me! Help!" The youngest said while running away from the man as fast as his little legs could carry him with his tiny hands running wildly above his head. He made a dash out the door and hid behind Mrs. Kirk's skirts. She laid a hand on his head and said, "Emil, dear, this is Miss Josephine. Say hello."

Jo exchanged a look with the little brown-eyed fellow. "Hello Miss Josephine!" Emil came out of hiding and smiled big for Jo. He hugged her and ran back to his game.

"Emil is five and this is his seven year old brother, Franz." Mrs. Kirk motioned towards the brown haired boy who said, "Hello, Miss" politely with the nod of his head. Jo nodded back with a smile. He walked back into the room and whispered to the man to whom Jo had not yet been introduced, "She's pretty, Uncle!"

At his nephew's last comment, the man looked up and met eyes with Jo. He excused himself for not noticing sooner and kissed her hand. Jo blushed-which was odd, for when men greeted her like that she would never reply that way. "That's all right, sir. It seems you have your hands full." Jo said with a forgiving smile towards the man and a nod towards the two children rolling around on the floor.

"Thank you. I am Friedrich Bhaer. I'm so sorry about my boys. I felt as if they needed to rest from their studies." Jo got lost in his deep brown eyes and scolded herself for such things.

"That's quite alright, Mr. Bhaer. I'm Josephine March." Mrs. Kirk smiled at the two.

"Miss March is the daughter of a friend of mine. She will be staying here as a governess for Kitty and Tina."

"Ah! Well Miss Marsch, I hope you will be joining us for dinner in an hour?" He asked as he took Jo's bags into her room for her. Jo nodded with a smile.

"Thank you, Professor. Yes I believe I will."

With that they parted to their rooms and Jo was left with two suitcases of unpacking to do until dinner in an hour.

_Dinner time…_

Mrs. Kirk made sure Jo was next to her at dinner time that evening. The Professor was sitting only four spots away from Mrs. Kirk and was talking with the many others at the table. Jo's gaze was stuck on Professor Bhaer. Noticing this, Mrs. Kirk leaned over and whispered to Jo, "He's quite a nice fellow, isn't he?"

Jo jumped, not expecting that and snapped out of her stare, feeling quite rude. She tried to wash all feelings of love out of her mind. After all, Laurie had just proposed and that messed up all too much for Jo. Now _more_ love? Jo simply didn't know what to think. She glanced at Mrs. Kirk, then to Mr. Bhaer talking to Tina, and then back to Mrs. Kirk.

"Yes. Quite a gentleman, I do believe. Where is his wife?"

Mrs. Kirk laughed and said, "My my, Josephine! Where did you get that idea?"

Jo blushed guessing that she thought she was love-sick. "Well…well I just thought with his two boys…"

"Franz and Emil? Oh, those sweet boys aren't his!"

"They aren't?"

"Of course not! Those are his two nephews." For some odd reason, Jo breathed a sigh of relief. "You've noticed his accent, have you not?" Jo nodded. "Well it's German. His sister married an American, but died suddenly and left Franz and Emil to him. He has so much love and care for them, that sweet man. He's as poor as a mouse, but still manages to care for the two and give them unlimited contentment."

"He looks late thirties. Am I wrong?"

"No, dear. He's thirty-six I believe."

'_Josephine March! He's ten years older than you, and you worry about love after what happened just a month ago with Teddy? How sick you are!' _Jo thought with a blushing face and mouthful of carrots.

Soon dinner was over. Jo had tucked Tina and Kitty into bed and read them a story. Mr. Bhaer came in and sang them a German song that he sung every night.

According to Mr. Bhaer, there was to be a wonderful play at the opera house that night. So, Jo had changed just after she tucked the little girls into bed and came out of her room to see him dressed much nicer than she had imagined. His eyes widened at the sight of her.

"What is it?" Jo asked, noticing his shock.

"Ach! I shouldn't stare…" he began.

"Tell me what you were thinking, Professor."

"Please. To you I am Friedrich."

Jo smiled at this new friend of hers. "Alright then, Friedrich, out with it!" He smiled back at Jo.

"I just think you look absolutely stunning tonight, Miss Marsch."

"Well thank you. You do as well, _Friedrich_. To you I am Jo." He seemed to like her personality. For, Jo was not like most women you would meet. She had her hair down, nice and brushed and not in a perfect little bun on the top of her head. Her dress wasn't too over-the-top and frilly. Her gloves weren't brand new, and she always had a smile on her face.

"Shall we go?" Professor Bhaer offered his arm to Jo with a smile.

Returning a smile Jo replied, "We shall."

_After The Play…_

"That was an absolutely fabulous play!" Jo said to Friedrich as he opened the house door to her and she walked in. "I loved the romance plot on how to two characters are so very different, but learned to love anyways!"

Friedrich smiled at her comment. "A little like you and me, no?"

"Well yes, quite. But…we aren't in love…" Jo dropped her voice towards the end of her sentence and let her hair fall over the right side of her face so he would not see her blushing.

There was an awkward silence for about forty-five seconds, but he quickly broke it by saying, "I'm so very glad you had a good time, Miss-Jo." He stopped himself to say her name. He escorted her to her room, said goodnight, and went to his own room.

Jo slipped off her dress and dressed into her nightgown. She sighed and sat on her bed.

"It has been quite a day, Jo." She said as she looked in the long mirror across from where she was sitting.

"I still don't know what I think of him..." as Jo talked to herself she didn't realize the Professor had walked across the hall to give Jo her gloves which she left downstairs on the stairway and could now hear her. "I don't know if I love him…but I might."

Mrs. Kirk was delighted to see the two kiss goodnight in the middle of the hallway when she walked upstairs to her own room that night.

Now Jo knew what she thought of him-and it was love.


End file.
